You know you need a break when..

You say "Yes, thats a common user name in Marathi too".

The maturing of India - on Indian aid for Katrina victims

Barely a couple of months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's US visit and the announcement of a joint US-India Disaster Relief Initiative to contribute to disaster preparedness and relief operations, in response to the wide and crippling devastation caused by hurrican Katrina, the Indian government released $5 million in aid to the US. The US .. the worlds largest donor had earlier let it be known that it would accept help from outside. Aside from the $5 mil given to the American Red Cross, and Indian military transporter plane carried 25 tonnes of aid including 50,000 first aid kits, 25,000 cots and 500,000 packets of rations.

The Russian built transporter has been sent to "stand in solidarity and sympathy with them in these trying times”. The plane also carried its own boats and a team from the Indian Army Medical Corps. The team includes a surgeon, an anaesthetist, doctors, nurses and paramedics who have had first-hand experience in handling the effects of natural disasters. The team also brings in its own stock of medicines including medicines to deal with water borne diseases as well as a portable water purification plant.

So whats the big deal right? The big deal is that India needs to act as a responsible, developed nation if it wants the world to accept it as a developed nation; to rid itself of the 'developing' tag.. which it very much wants and needs to do in order to be taken seriously in any matter. It needs to rise up to the responsibilities of a big player in the world. And this is exactly what it is doing. If we look at some natural disasters over the last year -

Supporting Project Why

IdeaMani has a post up on supporting Project Why. Check it out, read more about the project.
Along similar lines, dont forget ILP.

Gruelling weekend ;-)

Kim Clijsters outplayed Mary Pierce in every aspect at the US Open Championships. The belgian showed remarkable poise and claimed her first grand slam title. Both Pierce and Clijsters spoke well afterwards during the awards ceremony. JP Morgan Chase president .. who droned on for quite a while was booed by the crowd.

Agassi was clearly the crowd favourite in the men's final, but after playing valiantly failed to overcome the whirlwind that is Federer.

What has been notable during this open is the resurgence of 2 shall we say .. veterans of international tennis .. Mary Pierce, 30 and Andre Agassi, 35.

Meanwhile, in Belgium itself, the F1 race was pretty exciting. McLaren would have been ecstatic at getting their first 1-2 finish in .. oh-so-many years. But Montoya crashed with just 3 laps remaining in the race and the race finished with Kimi Raikkonen being 1st and Fernando Alonso (who else) coming in 2nd. Had Montoya lasted the last 3 laps - then the GP would have been real exciting. Not only did McLaren lose out on very valuable constructors points, but in the driver points .. Alonso claimed a bunch more too. Now it looks like just a matter of when Alonso will become the youngest Formula 1 champion ever. I am hoping for a McLaren 1st in the constructors though.

While my interest in cricket seems to be deteriorating by the week, both Australian openers .. Langer and Hayden notched up centiries. Australia needed to win this test in order to level the series 2-2 and hold off an imminent Englad victory. However despite spririted bowling by Warne, England managed to hold off the Aussies and secure a long awaited Ashes victory!

Agassi

I have never really been a Agassi fan. I was always a Sampras backer. But as I sit here watching Andre Agassi Vs Roger Federer .. the 2005 US Open Men's championships; Agassi has converted me. Lionheart, age 35 - is playing wonderfully well, trying to fend off the ever engeryful Federer. The crowd is totally with Agassi and is cheering his every point as if he just won a set. If there ever was a match for which I wished I was present there .. it is this.

It is 6-3 0-3 right now, with Federer winning the 1st set. Agassi fended off 7 set points during the first set and 3 breakpoints during the last game. Every time he is under pressure he seems to will out all these wonderful plays, stretching more than you would think he can, mustering more strength from some hidden resource. The 8th game of the match .. when Agassi was down 5-2 in the first set and 0-40 in that game was the best set for me until now. Agassi faced 3 set points and the way in which he saved that game was terrific.

It is only fitting that 2 sportpersons - each a gigantic legend in their own right - Steffi Graf and Lance Armstrong are there to cheer Agassi on.

update #1: It is 6-3 2-6 now. Everyone leave everything and watch.
update #2: 6-3 2-6 5-6 .. Agassi just won a game after 4 deuces, saving 4 breakpoints and serving god knows how many times. The ace was a beaut.

Flip/Flops

Wait; shouldnt this be filed under 'US'? No. Because this is not about students wearing flip-flops to the White House. Neither is it about John Kerry. (What happnes to those who lose elections anyways - where do they all suddenly disappear to?).

This is about those research flip-flops we constantly keep seeing. One research tells us xyz in moderation decreases cholesterol. Another tells us to avoid it at all times. I read somewhere that some 30 odd percent of all research is contradicted by another finding soon enough. I believe the percentage is way more than 30. I believe this finding itself that 30 odd percent of research is contradicted soon enough -- will soon be contradicted.

Along these lines, I propose the scientific research community (not me - I am not that scientific and I definitely am not a research community) to come up with a comprehensive index. A number scale which shall be used henceforth for all products; whether congenial or vile. In fact, it is this scale itself which shall tell us if a product is good for us or bad. No grey areas. No 'good if taken in moderation'. The scale shall range from say +1000 to -1000. So if something is say +500 .. then I goddam very well know its good for me. If some other thing is -10 .. its up to me to decide whether the pleasure is worth the risk.

Ha! That'll keep them busy for a while.